Ghostly Trails

by Paula Lester

  Hope cocked her head to the side, staring at the gathered items on the couch. “Now the question is who set up the portal?”

  “Our most likely candidate seems to be Peter.” Zoey bit her lower lip, her forehead furrowing as she thought. “But why would he want to kill Grant? After all, the police were on Grant’s trail as the murderer. If Peter would have just let it be, Grant might’ve taken the fall and gone to jail, leaving him to get off scot-free.”

  Hope twirled a piece of blond hair around her forefinger. “Maybe he didn’t mean to kill Grant. Maybe Peter just forgot to take the portal down, or maybe, with all the police activity in the house, he didn’t get a chance to before Grant got home.”

  Zoey’s head bobbed up and down. “That has to be it. It makes total sense.” She lowered her voice. “I’ve had a few thoughts about the neighbor, Chrissy, being the murderer. She was Grant’s mistress, and maybe she wanted to get Demi out of the way. The same thing could have happened—she didn’t have time to remove the portal and accidentally killed Grant.

  Hope frowned. “Someone needed a lot of ghost experience to set the portal up right. And wouldn’t Chrissy have warned Grant if it was her and she couldn’t get in to remove the portal? She wouldn’t just let her lover get ensnared and savagely murdered.”

  Zoey nodded.

  Suddenly, Hope turned to Zoey, speaking fast. “We need to figure out who the poltergeist is and what item it’s kept in so we can get rid of it for good.”

  “How do we get rid of a poltergeist for good?”

  “Salt and burn its holding item,” Hope explained.

  “I wonder if the item is still here.” Zoey spun around in a circle, not really knowing what she was looking for but hoping her eyes would magically fall on the appropriate item. She scanned the fireplace mantle, which was still crowded with tiny items. She racked her brain, trying to remember anything Peter had told them that might help her figure out the item that was holding the poltergeist. Suddenly, a picture sprung into her mind of the mantel when she’d first seen it right after Demi’s murder. There had been a beaten metal disk pendant on a heavy silver chain. Zoey quickly stepped forward so she could see the trinkets on the mantle better. There was no necklace. She spun around to face Hope. “It’s Jessica Miller.”

  Hope’s face scrunched in concentration. “The poltergeist you and Peter were talking about?”

  Zoey nodded, heading toward the door wall. She motioned for Hope to follow her. “He said they forced her into a necklace, and there was an ancient-looking silver necklace on the mantelpiece the first time I was here. It isn’t there now. That means Peter must’ve come and gotten it sometime after Grant’s murder. He could use Jessica to kill again.”

  Hope hurried after Zoey. “So where are we going?”

  “Back to the retirement home. Steve can find the spot in Peter’s book that talks about Jessica Miller, and we can look at some of the tapes again too. Maybe we’ll find something concrete that we can take to Luke or a clue as to where Peter might have hidden the necklace.”

  “Sounds good to me, partner.”

  Zoey glanced at Hope, who winked at her and grinned. As they got into her car, Zoey almost wished they’d brought the Camaro and Hope was driving. Both would probably be faster than her and the old Chevy.

  Still, they made good time back to Sunnyside Retirement Community and raced inside. Steve and Kelli were in the lobby with a group of the residents, and Courtney Close, the Social Director, was there too. She appeared to be trying to talk some of the retirees into playing pinochle, but everyone was ignoring her. Some of the elderly residents were watching television and others talked in small groups. Zoey knew they were trying to escape the heat of the day by hanging out inside.

  No sooner had the thought crossed Zoey’s mind than a cold, clammy chill ran over her skin. Alarmed, she snapped her head around toward Hope. “Do you feel that?”

  She rubbed her arms. “Yes.”

  The retirees obviously felt it too. They began to murmur and rub their hands together. Zoey looked at Kelli. “Is this something you’re doing?”

  But their resident air conditioner shook her head, eyes wide. “It’s not me.”

  Zoey’s head whipped in every direction as fast as it could. “The poltergeist,” she hissed at Hope, who crouched a little and began looking around too.

  In a flash, as though Zoey summoned it by saying the word, a ghostly apparition appeared directly in front of her. Maria screamed. Zoey could understand why. The thing looked horrifying. Its mouth was twisted into a perpetual look of rage, and it had long hair that seemed to drip with greenish-black ooze.

  The poltergeist leaped toward Zoey, and she saw that its fingers ended in terrifying claws which also oozed. She felt a ridiculous flash of triumph as she thought that they’d been right about the murder weapon before throwing herself to the side as hard as she could, crashing to the floor behind a chair. She scrambled to get to her feet, imagining the poltergeist clawing at her back while she was down.

  “We need to find the necklace!” she shouted. “It’s silver with a flat, round pendant. Everyone search!”

  The poltergeist went for Zoey again as soon as she got to her feet, and Steve yanked her backward so the claws just missed her arm. “What is that thing?” he shouted. Behind him, she could see Hope frantically searching the couch, throwing cushions into the air. Several of the retirees were hunting around the room too, but Howie was hopping around, throwing hooks and jabs into the air like a boxer. Snores slept on an armchair, totally unbothered by all the noise.

  Kelli ran forward to stand in front of the ghost, exuding more frigid air than Zoey had ever felt come off her. She must be trying to freeze the thing, but it just laughed, a hideous scratching sound, and swiped at the receptionist with its claws. Kelli yelped and hopped backward.

  Jerry tried next, looking suave as he stood tall and held his hands out in front of himself. He performed a complicated maneuver with both wrists and identical balls of flame shot out of his hands toward the ghost. One went right by it, landed on Snores’ chair, and ignited the upholstery. The other grazed the poltergeist, which screamed, hissed, and twisted in the air.

  “Snores!” Maria screeched and began yanking on the sleeping old man’s arm. “Wake up! You’re going to get cooked.”

  Snores mumbled in his sleep, turned his head, and continued to snooze. Suddenly, Susan appeared from the direction of the kitchen with a bucket of water, which she emptied over Snores and his chair. Choking and spitting, the old man finally woke up, and, apparently not having any idea what had happened, began to curse and took a swing at Susan.

  The Social Director darted in front of the cook at the last second and took Snores’ fist to her chin. She went down in a heap, out cold. Susan knelt to check on her, shaking her shoulder hard.

  The poltergeist flew toward Jerry, who threw another ball of flame which went right over the top of the ghost and narrowly missed hitting Howie. The tiny, thin man dropped to the ground and inexplicably started doing push-ups.

  Zoey mumbled a spell that smothered the flames licking their way up the drapes behind Howie.

  “I found it!” Hope cried triumphantly, holding up the necklace. Dirt fell off it in clumps, and Zoey realized she’d dug it out of the potted plant next to her. “We need salt!”

  As Susan dashed toward the kitchen as fast as a plump sixty-year-old can dash, the poltergeist screamed and dove toward Hope. Snores saw the disgusting apparition for the first time and his eyes narrowed. He pulled a wallet out of his back pocket and fumbled in it. He removed what looked like an uninflated green balloon and flipped it toward the poltergeist. It expanded and twisted in the air, forming a lasso which fell tidily over the ghost and then tightened. As the poltergeist twisted and wailed, Susan ran back into the room with a canister of salt. Hope dropped the necklace on the floor, Susan dumped a pile of salt on it, and Jerry produced another fireball, which he dropped directly onto the mound.


  Everyone stood back and watched the writhing, howling poltergeist. After a few moments, the necklace on the floor began to melt in the blue-hot flame, and the ghost screamed in fury as it faded. It seemed to take forever as the chalkboard-scratching noise from the poltergeist tore the air in the room, but Zoey knew it was probably only a couple minutes before it was gone and the only thing left was the magical green lasso.

  Panting, Zoey put her hands on her knees and bent over, closing her eyes. That had been too close.

  When she looked up again, the fire was out and the remains of the necklace smoldered on the floor. Hope said, “We have to tell Luke Peter’s the killer.”

  Zoey pulled out her phone and scrolled through the contacts.

  Maria patted her hair, trying to tame a few fly-aways that had come loose from her bun during the scuffle. “It’s a good thing that dear lady left before the kerfuffle,” she said. “It wouldn’t do to have guests here while we handled our business.”

  “What lady?” Zoey held the phone to her ear and listened to it ring.

  “The one who was here earlier. Mousy-looking girl with bangs. She said she’d come to visit her father, but it turned out she was at the wrong place. Such a nice girl—she even left a few things for us. Like this.” Maria handed a small statue to Zoey.

  “Hey, Zoey. What’s up?” Luke said into her ear.

  As she turned the statue over in her hand and saw the runes etched onto it, Zoey swallowed hard and said, “We know who the killer is.”

  Chapter 10

  Hanging up the phone and looking around, Zoey felt a surge of love for everyone in the room who had done their part to fight Jessica Miller and protect each other from the poltergeist. Though it wasn’t a typical one, she realized they were a family.

  She brushed her hands together. “Well, that’s that,” she said. “We figured it out.”

  Steve grinned. “Nice detective work, boss.” He glanced at Hope. “Both of you.”

  Hope blushed and twirled her hair. “You helped too,” she said.

  “Wait a minute! You can’t just let Luke and the other officers take all the glory.” Snores stumbled on his words. “I mean, you can’t leave them in danger when they go to pick up the killer. We should go help them. I have my ghost catcher.” He held up the green lasso, which had shrunk back to wallet-size. “And I can use it on human perps too. They were standard issue in my day but now they’re a little . . . um . . . outlawed.”

  “That’s because they can crush people’s ribcages,” Jerry said sourly.

  “Bah! That’s user error. I know what I’m doing. Let’s go!”

  Hope and Zoey exchanged looks. “We do know the most about what’s going on,” Zoey said slowly.

  A big smile spread over Hope’s face. She nodded and they headed toward the door, Snores right behind them.

  Steve intercepted them. “Are you sure this is a good idea? Taking Snores and all?”

  “Probably not.” Zoey smiled. “But what the heck? He proved he can handle himself.” She winked at Snores, whose chest seemed to puff out like a peacock’s.

  “Which car?” Hope asked.

  “Definitely yours. It’s the fastest.”

  Snores whistled when he saw the Camaro and then he climbed in the back. He was already snoring, his head leaned against the seat behind him, when Zoey got in the front passenger seat. She chuckled.

  They arrived at Peter’s office building in about half the time they did before. Zoey was glad to be on stable ground when she got out of the car. Hope could really drive that thing fast. “No police cruisers yet,” she said as she opened the Camaro’s back door and shook Snores’ shoulder.

  He mumbled and opened his eyes. “What?”

  “We’re here,” she said, keeping her voice gentle.

  “Where?” He looked around the Camaro as though he didn’t remember getting into it.

  “Peter Lynchmin’s office. To help apprehend the murderer. Remember? Got your lasso?”

  Memory spread across his face, and Snores got out of the car and pulled his wallet out. They all headed toward the office building’s front door.

  When they got into the lobby, Daphne sat at the desk flipping magazine pages. Zoey led the others right past her without saying a word, wondering if the woman could even be bothered to care. The squawk behind her indicated she did. They went straight to the lab at the end of the hallway. When they entered, Alice and Peter were there, heads bent over a pair of headphones. Peter had a screwdriver out, working on them. When she saw them, Alice ran to her desk, grabbed several items out of a drawer, and began racing around the room, dropping them in different spots.

  “She’s setting up a portal!” Hope shouted.

  Peter looked bewildered, his eyes moving from the trio near the door to Alice, who was frantically racing around the room. Then she stumbled to a halt, pulled a small bottle out of her pocket, and tossed it onto the floor.

  “She’s calling a ghost. Snores, get ready!” Zoey moved around to one side of Alice while Hope went the other way. Snores fumbled in his wallet, dropping dollar bills and papers at his feet.

  “What’s going on?” Peter demanded. “Alice? What are you doing?”

  She looked at him, the admiration in her face obvious. “I’m getting rid of these pests for you,” she said. “Just like I got rid of Demi.”

  Peter’s jaw dropped. “What? You killed Demi?”

  Alice nodded. “You hated her and she was stealing your brilliant ideas. She needed to go.”

  “Alice set up a portal at Demi’s house,” Zoey explained, watching the female investigator closely. “She set it to go off at a certain time, and it did. Jessica Miller was released from her necklace to kill Demi and then she was sucked back in.”

  Peter looked utterly shocked.

  Hope picked up where Zoey left off. “She couldn’t get back into the house after Demi died. Too many cops. And by the time they left, Grant was home and it was too late. So the portal released Jessica again, at the same time, killing him. Alice was finally able to get in and retrieve the necklace after that.”

  A slight buzz sounded in the room followed by the same cold, clammy chill they’d felt back at the retirement home as the poltergeist had appeared. Zoey glanced at Snores, who was still trying to find the lasso in his wallet.

  “How’d you figure it out?” Alice spat.

  “I saw the runes on one of the objects you left as a ‘gift’ for my residents today. It was actually part of the portal you set up to summon Jessica Miller to kill Hope and me. One of the retirees described a woman with straight bangs. I put it together then.”

  Suddenly, a figure slithered out of the bottle Alice had dropped on the floor, causing the lab assistant to sneer. “Clever,” she said. “But it won’t do you any good now.”

  It was a poltergeist that looked remarkably like Jessica, with the same claws and ooze but a different face and clothes. “Carter Long,” Peter breathed. He must have recognized the poltergeist as one he, Alice, and George had previously contained.

  Zoey, Hope, and Snores all crouched, bracing to be attacked by the thing, but when it did leap toward someone, it was Alice. She screamed and threw her arms in front of her face.

  “Oh, Alice, you’ve done it wrong, you clumsy girl!” Peter shouted.

  “Snores!” Zoey yelled.

  The old man leaped forward like a much younger person, green lasso finally in his hand. As he threw it around the ghost, Hope and Zoey ran toward the bottle. Zoey yanked the container of salt from her purse and poured it onto the bottle while Hope lit a match and dropped it on top. They both backed away, reciting a spell together. Zoey held her breath, wishing Jerry would have come with them—his fireballs were hotter than their blaze.

  The ghost twisted and fought the lasso, yanking Snores this way and that as he held the other end. Zoey kept one eye on the struggle as she watched the bottle. It must have been made of clay because it didn’t take long for it to begin to melt in the m
agical fire. As it did, the ghost screamed, writhed, and cursed before it finally disappeared, releasing the lasso.

  Heavy footsteps pounded up the hallway and the lab’s door crashed open as Alice turned on her heel and started toward the back of the room. Snores spun around, throwing his lasso at the newcomer. Somehow, his aim was true, and the magical rope floated down and tightened over Luke’s torso. The detective shouted and struggled.

  “Snores! That’s Luke!” Zoey shouted over her shoulder as she followed Alice. But she needn’t have worried about pursuing the woman.

  Quick as a flash, Peter dove for his assistant, tackled her, and landed in a heap on top of her. He grabbed her wrists and held them down. She struggled for a second and then stopped, gazing up at him. “Why?” he said softly, but Alice screwed her eyes shut and turned her face away.

  “Because she’s in love with you,” Zoey said softly. “I realized it when we were here questioning you.”

  “Yeah, she has a mega crush on her mentor,” Hope said. “And that’s you.”

  Peter dropped his head heavily and shook it as though he could somehow make the statement untrue.

  Zoey turned back toward Luke, whose face was bright red. He wasn’t shouting anymore, but he still struggled weakly inside the lasso. “Snores, can’t you let him go?”

  “Um.” The elderly man looked confused. “Let me just try and remember how to do that.”

  Luke was saying something, but he was hard to understand.

  “He’s running out of air!” Zoey raced to the detective’s side and put her ear close to his mouth.

  “Release. Retreat. Rebound.” His words came out as a whisper.

  Zoey repeated the three words to Snores, whose face brightened. He recited the words with a flourish of his wrist, and the lasso snapped off the police officer and back into Snores’ hand.

  Luke sucked air into his lungs, and his face slowly returned to its normal color as he moved toward Peter and Alice. He seemed to recover quickly and wasted no time getting Alice handcuffed, reciting her rights, and hauling her out of the lab. As he passed Zoey and Hope, he spat, “You guys are in big trouble for coming here alone.” The women both grinned at him, and he rolled his eyes.